Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-05-13
Little DANDY.

Little Dandy" the boys called him. He
joined our company in Vicksburg, just be-
fore the siege, and none of us felt enough
interest in him to make any inquiries, says
the Atlanta Constitution. His extreme
youth-he was about sixteen-would have
excited our sympathy under other circum-
stance, but the war-woyR veterans in the
trenches had no use for the curled darlings
of the parlor, and Little Dandy's appear
ance was against him.
The lad wore the gray uniform of pri-
vate, but it was of the very finest material.
finer than anything worn by our generals.
His buttons had an unsoldlerly glitter. He
sported white handkerchiefs, carried a
pocket mirror, and every morning he
comDed and curled his golden locks until
they looked like girls tresses.
sHello, Little Dandy" yelled the SOL
diers whenever the young fellow passed
them.
To this rough salutation he always re-
sponded with bow and a smile, but his
soft ways did not win favor. When we
met him in town We passed him by without
notice, and in camp We let him alone. Lit
! tie Dandy was proud after a fashion, too
proud to notice the many Sights heaped
duties without complaint, but nothing
could induce him to abandon his pocket
mirror and his fancy toilets.
The siege was we'll under way, and We
| were no better acquainted with Little Dan
dy than at first. He shared our meals of
! moldy corn bread and mule meat without
| q murmur, and it must be admitted that
this somewhat raised him in our estima-
ton. But we still had to learn that true
heart beat behind those glittering buttons.
! An angle of the enemy's works was dan
gerously close to our intrenchments. and
we had to keep our heads we'll sheltered.
| When we raisel hat on the mnzzle of a
! musket it was almost invariably riddled
with bullets. One morning we found our
men bong picked off by an unseen sharp
! shooter at the rate of five or six an hour.
This astonished us, because we were all
keeping under cover, and the men who
| were killed all occupied well-protected
positions.
Where was the sharpshooter? This was
the uppermost question in every mind. We
were not long in satisfying ourselves on
this point. Just outside the angle of the
Federal works stood giant oak, whose
leafy top afforded an admirable covert FOL
| a riheman. vigilant scrutiny convinced
! us that the man who was doing such deadly
| work in our ranks was concealed in this
tree. 10 reach it lie must have made his
way there during the night and he would
have to remain there all day. But We could
not stand it even one day. His aim was SO
! unerring that every time his rifle cracked a
Confederate bit tho dust. We tried a rat
ting discharge of musketry, but moment
later the report of the rifle rang out and
another of onr comrades fell.
1t was evident that from our position it
was almost impossible to hit the Federal
rifeman. If we succeeded in bringing him
down it would be by some lucky random
shot. Possibly man outside the works
would be able to draw bead on our wary
foeman. but he would be under the guns of
the enemy, and they: would be thousand
chances against him.
"I'll kill him or die!" cried shrill voice.
"Good God! It's Little Dandy" shouted
o dozen men. ......,
At the risk of our lives we peeped over
our brcastworks.
Little Dandy had already made his way
to the open space between the works, aud
was edging around the right of the tree;
! The Federals saw what he was up to and
! fired a broadside. When the smoke cleared
away and they saw the boy with a flushed
face and streaming hair aiming bis gun ;s
the TOP of the old oak there was ire
mendous cheer. Itroled along both lines;
the hoarse Federal shout mingled N WIN
the wild "rebel ych.'